Most parties in drowning suit settle, but trial goes on
By Rochelle Steinhaus
Court TV.com
(Court TV) -- And then there was one.
Before testimony Wednesday morning, a Mississippi judge ironed out a settlement with two of four defendants in the wrongful-death case of a 9-year-old boy who drowned in a Jackson, Miss. YMCA pool.
By lunch today, the Metropolitan YMCA, one of two remaining defendants, also settled for undisclosed terms.
The deals reached behind closed doors left only the Bethlehem Center in the case, the daycare facility that organized the fatal field trip to the Y pool.
Perrize Washington was enrolled in a summer program with the Bethlehem Center, but according to his parents, Vickie and Oscar, daycare workers never notified them or requested permission to take Perrize on the outing.
The plaintiffs, who are seeking $50 million, allege that the pool was overcrowded and inadequately supervised when the boy, who could not swim, slid down a slide and landed in 12 feet of water.
The parents contend that Perrize couldn't be seen through the murky water, delaying the accident's discovery. When his body was finally noticed at the bottom of the pool, no one on hand knew how to perform CPR, despite state regulations requiring such certification for lifeguards and caretakers of children.
Details of the settlements were not disclosed in court, but the TV3 Foundation, Inc., the nonprofit group affiliated with local television station WLBT, appears to have settled without paying a cent. The foundation, which partially funded the YMCA's swimming program, reportedly did not have insurance and the boy's parents did not want to put the charitable organization out of business.
Another defendant, Charles Melton, who served as WLBT's CEO and had a prominent role in the TV-3 Foundation, also settled, but terms were not disclosed. The plaintiffs claimed Melton took an active part in running the pool and hiring lifeguards, but lawyers for Melton and the foundation countered that their role was limited to donating money to fund the YMCA-run program.
Testimony continued as the Washingtons' lawyer, Dennis Sweet, focused on proving Perrize's death resulted from the Bethlehem Center's negligence.
Sweet called a water safety expert and an executive from the state's health department to establish the regulations and guidelines that should have been followed that day at the pool.
Water safety expert Thomas Erbo sharply criticized the defendants' failure to adhere to proper procedures.
"This was a needless drowning that was entirely preventable, that resulted from the YMCA's failure to follow their own standards, and the Bethlehem Center's failure to take appropriate safety precautions," he said.
Erbo found the pool's conditions so poor that he thought it should have been "closed immediately so that people would not be subject to risk." He testified that the water in the outdoor pool was so cloudy that anything deeper than three feet wasn't visible.
"The bottom could not be seen," he said. "That is prohibited by Mississippi regulations."
When cross-examined by the Bethlehem Center's lawyer, Thomas Page, Erbo grew emotional. Page implied that daycare workers were following state guidelines to watch all the children at all times, staying focused on them as the group watched in horror after Perrize was pulled out of the pool.
Erbo shot back that it was no excuse for not attempting to administer CPR, calling their actions inexcusable. He add that the Bethlehem Center was still negligent for not ensuring that YMCA staff was equipped with proper credentials.
"They should have checked to ensure the certifications the law requires were intact," he said.
During a break in the trial, the Washingtons told Court TV that their motivation for the suit wasn't money, but answers.
Vickie Washington recalled the phone call she received informing her Perrize had drowned. The call puzzled her because she dropped her son off at the Bethlehem Center, which doesn't have a pool. She also says she was never informed about the outing.
After the tragedy, the Washingtons say they never got satisfactory answers as they attempted to sort out the details of Perrize last hours.
"I asked what happened. They gave me sympathy. I didn't ask for sympathy," Vickie Washington said. "I asked what happened to my child."
